Knitting isn't a contest or a race, it's a skill that's learned with experience. If a person only sits down with it once every week or so, that's not frequent enough to get comfortable with the movements. A little bit every day is better.

But you can try other styles or other ways of holding your yarn and making your stitches. Watch knitting videos on Youtube for a wide variety of styles - English, continental and combined, and look at how they hold the yarn and wrap it around the needles.

People often comment that I knit really quickly, but it's really that right now I can knit for longer.

If you feel you must knit faster, sit down and watch yourself knit and really think about where you are wasting time and motion. There are really fast knitters in every style, so unless you want to try other methods, there's usually bits of your knitting that can be streamlined.

I'm still having more fun learning to care much about speed - I figure it'll wait until I've corrected my tension issues!

That's true. The worlds faster knitter does continental, but the 2nd fastest does english and she's only about 3 sts/second behind her. Many how to videos for english do show 'throwing' your entire hand around the needle and that's a wasted motion. I knit english at a fairly good clip depending on the yarn and needles and my right hand skims along the needle with the fingers flexing out. Here's a couple videos that are similar and shows you don't really have to let go of the right needle - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCO8q...eature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeG1U...eature=related

The other thing is to give yourself time. There might just be a point when you can just zip along. With me, it came a good three years after I really "got into" knitting. I was initially taught to knit when I was 6 and am in my mid-30's now.

You just need time and repetition to build up the muscle memory that then equals into speed. Try getting a good stocking stitch in the round knitting pattern and just sit there and knit. Two things will happen, you're tension should likely improve/standardize and you will get faster. For sure!

Most of all... it totally doesn't matter other than you want more fun knitted stuff faster... that or you're trying to get through your current project because you've found a better one

Give yourself time. I find that when I reach a point with any pattern where I don't have to think about what I was doing, my speed increases.

But I'm also not in it for speed. I find that the snick snick of the needles and the process of knitting to be soothing. Finishing a project is nice, but knitting itself - that's where the real joy comes in.

I have only been knitting since July and I find that when I really get to knit for extended periods of time my speed increases. I am an English knitter. I prefer to knit small simple patterns that way I get to see the results of my knitting more quickly. I am however working on a Log Cabin blanket and really enjoy the repetitive garter st. I also have other small projects going so when I get tired of the garter st, I put it down and work on something else. For me it's just the knitting that I enjoy.